A Good Age: It’s your job to know what goes on in nursing homes

Sue Scheible

Tuesday

Apr 27, 2010 at 12:01 AMApr 27, 2010 at 12:39 PM

The recent criminal case charging a Quincy nursing home aide with rape shocked and scared local elders, their families and advocates. How can families know how safe their loved one is, even in a “good” home?

‘If it’s true, it’s terrible. If it isn’t true, it’s still a shame.'

That’s what some elder advocates are saying about last week’s news that an aide at a highly rated nursing home in Quincy was arrested and charged with raping a resident.

The public has no way of knowing yet just what went on at Hancock Park Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. The charges have not been proven.

The aide, Hilda Almonor, has staunch defenders at another seniors residence, an apartment complex, where she also worked. There is no evidence anyone at the nursing home suspected anything was wrong – if it was.

Even if untrue, there are lasting repercussions.

Click here to hear Elder Affairs Secretary Ann Hartstein discuss how to choose a nursing home

“When people in the community hear about something like this, they don’t know what to think and are scared,” Patti White, ombudsman director at South Shore Elder Services in Braintree said. “They think ‘Now, I don’t want to put my parent in a nursing home,’ even if it turns out not to be true. But we have to know about these cases.”

Families ask, “Who is protecting my loved one?”

You better be. You have to look out for yourselves, for your loved one. Visit often, keep up to date with conditions in the nursing home or assisted-living residence. Get to know the staff, the facility’s doctor.

“Use your senses and your common sense,” said state ombudsman Mary McKenna of Braintree. If you cannot visit regularly, call your local ombudsman program. Ombudsmen visit nursing homes at least twice a month and have 24-hour access.

“People who have been abused, in any way, will display that one way or another,” White said. “An aide comes into the room, or walks by, and you can see the resident is afraid. Their expression changes, or their body language.”

McKenna said, “Even the most demented people, unable to speak, show signs of abuse: acting out episodes, behavioral changes. The family knows the resident’s behavior best and if it has changed.”

A colleague’s mother-in-law developed early Alzheimer’s disease in her 70s. She had to move to a nursing home, her behavior changed dramatically and the staff said she was violent, lashed out at the aides, could not be controlled, refused to take her shower. They had written her off.

The family intervened, found a home with a special unit for Alzheimer’s and moved her. She is now calm, as engaged as she probably can be, and if not happy, usually content.

Told about the case, White and McKenna both said it is not required that nursing home residents have a weekly shower. Personal hygiene has to be maintained, but there are sponge baths, products for dry bathing. “Water is a big fear for a lot of people with dementia,” McKenna said.

If you have a problem, talk to the social worker. That’s their job: to look into issues and follow through. “Nurses are usually busy passing out medicine, doing the nursing,” White said.

There is a process for handling complaints, by law, and every facility has a grievance process. If that doesn’t get results, contact the ombudsman.

Another reason for constant vigilance: if a key administrative person in a nursing home changes – a director of nursing leaves, a social worker moves on – the care can quickly change.

If you suspect anything, report it. For the ombudsman program, call 617-727-7750 or 1-800-243-4636.

Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@ledger.com, 617-786-7044, or The Patriot Ledger, Box 699159, Quincy 02269-9159. Read her Good Age blog on our website.

READ MORE about the Quincy case.

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